CARNIVAL, What does that spell?
by Drama Addiction
Summary: The Konoha Twelve are cleaning up an old attic. What will happen when a worn box transports them to a strange place?


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters, and that upsets me.

* * *

Sakura blinked twice then rubbed her eyes, hopelessly trying to vanquish the hardy dust that coated her inner lids. She sighed and shook her head, it clearing for only a second. Only about a foot away, stood Sasuke Uchiha, desperately struggling to keep in the sneeze that irked him. After all, Sasuke Uchiha was not one to be controlled by a mere bodily function. Alas, the sneeze won, sounding more like a hiccup as the survivor held his breath. He tried to play it off as nothing, but couldn't help but feel certain cerulean orbs peer at him from across the room, a triumphant smile on the knuckleheads face. Naruto had yet to sneeze. The blonde ninja turned away from his comrade, grinning in delight. He continued clearing away the piles of grime and dirt that ate away at this long-deserted attic. This mission was most definitely not fun. Back by our cherry blossom-haired kunoichi, something was amuck. She stared, her celadon eyes narrowed at the lone cardboard box, backed up against the creamy walls.

"C-A-R-N-I-V-A-L?" She read the big, black letters, drawing the attention of a blue-clad avenger.

"Carnival?" He spoke, trying to make sense of the word. They both stared at it, searching their long-accumulated vocabulary for anything close to this foreign word. They slowly shifted position as their friend and teammate quickly made his way over to where they were standing, ignoring all the shouts of their fellow ninja as it echoed up the attic stairs.

"Lee! Are you done in the kitchen yet?" A females voice cut across all other sounds.

"Almost, I will not make anyone wait." A male replied in perfect grammar.

"Alright. When you're done we'll help Team Seven in the attic."

"I got it, TenTen. Do not worry."

Back up in the attic, Team Seven was still trying to make sense of the word that lay before them. The young Uzumaki grabbed the box from his teammates.

"Should I open it?" He asked, excitement written all over his whiskered face.

"Naruto, remember what Kakashi-sensei said. Everything we find here is to be given to the owners." Sakura sternly replied.

"But Sakura-chan, when I shake it I can't hear anything!" Whined the Bijuu-carrier.

"Give me the box."

Both ninja turned to their normally incommunicative teammate, staring at Sasuke's blank expression. His tone of voice hinted he would not stand for being disobeyed. Slowly, our cerulean-eyed ninja handed the box over, sneezing as the dusk flew at him. Sasuke famously smirked, as they were tied. The Uchiha survivor pulled a cold, metal kunai out of his pocket, and then gingerly sliced at the worn box. It opened easily, the tape being half-decomposed from all the years untouched. He pulled both sides up and all three stared into the dark abyss with unblinking eyes.

"I can't see the bottom," Sakura thought a loud, the other two nodding to confirm her thoughts.

"So weird." Uzumaki, Naruto stated, obviously confused as well. The Uchiha said nothing, but to the others approval slowly stuck his hand into the box. He sucked in a breath as his hand disappeared. He quickly yanked it out, and stared at the sweat that coated his hand. It was warm? Naruto also stared at Sasuke's hand and slowly took a deep breath as he stuck his headband-clad head into the small box. Surprisingly his head fit. And then his neck. And his shoulders. The rest if his body followed suit. His two teammates gasped as Naruto disappeared entirely. They both stared at the box, shocked and scared.

"EEP!" Sakura yelped covering her eyes from the blinding white light. It seemed to shoot out of the now grounded, small box. She quickly grabbed Sasuke's arm as they disappeared along with the light. The attic remained empty for several more minutes, until the sound of the old stairs creaking in unison with the tired footsteps played through the room. Team "Guy" slowly made their way up the stairs.

"Sakura-Chan!" Rock Lee called, his bowl-style hair cut staying perfectly in place as his head moved, trying to find his dearly beloved. She was nowhere in sight.

"TenTen, I thought you said Team Seven was up here." A white-eyed ninja stated.

"They were, Neji." TenTen replied, shaking her chocolate brown hair, obviously confused. The kunoichi started to make her way around the room, checking behind every box.

"Where could they have gone?" She questioned her teammate's, who obviously had no idea as well. Our big-eyed hard worker started to frantically search the room.

"Sakura-chan!" He called; even though it was obvious she was not in there. Neji ignored the hustling and bustling of his teammates and slowly made his way to a worn box that lay, opened, in the center of the large room.

"Carnival?" He read, squinting hard. The Hyuga was supposedly a genius, yet he could not make sense of a simple eight-lettered word. He tugged at the open sides and stared into the darkness. He stuck his hand in and immediately the room filled with a white light. Then, they were gone. One group at a time the remaining Konoha ninja made their way up to the attic, looking for their missing comrades. And one at a time, they disappeared. Then there was one team left.

"Ugh. What a drag. They all left." A boy with a spiky, chocolate-haired ponytail complained.

"Where would they have gone, Shikamaru?" A husky voice replied, hastily grabbing a potato chip from his seemingly bottomless bag.

"Both of you be quiet. They have to be here somewhere." The only kunoichi in the group stated, starting to look around the empty room. Choji, taking a few more mouthfuls of chips, made his way toward a box lying on a raised floor panel. He bent down, staring intently into the open box. While contemplating what it could be, the last chip slipped out of his grease-coated hands and landed in the box. He squinted hard and long but could not seem to find the oval outline. So, it being the last chip therefore utterly un-abandonable, he stuck his hand into the cardboard-outlined abyss. Within moments the creamy exterior was replaced with wide-open, fresh air. His teammates appeared seconds after him, in awe at what surrounded them. There was what resembled a market, a bunch of stands selling various things Choji had never heard of. But it smelled mouthwateringly delicious. Choji took off toward the stands, his complaining comrade slowly tailing him. Today was going to be a good day.

Shikamaru sighed and slowly followed his hunger-ridden friend.

"Shikamaru!" A familiar voice called. Shikamaru turned to the side, seeing nothing. He shook his head.

"Great. Now I'm hearing things." He muttered to himself. "This is why I don't like over-exerting myself."

"No! Up here!" Shikamaru looked up to see Naruto at the very top of a tall, circular, metal contraption. An un-safe looking, circular, metal contraption.

"What are you doing up there. You're going to get hurt." Shika sighed.

"No, don't worry! This is made for people to ride!" Naruto replied, grinning.

"What is it anyway." Shikamaru questioned, using his same, bored, tone of voice.

"It's a fe-ferris wheel." Squeaked, a shy voice. Shikamaru looked up, he hadn't seen the young Hyuga heiress seated next to Naruto. He could tell she was enjoying it, but if she were to get any redder her body would over-heat.

"Oh." Shikamaru started to walk away.

"Later!" He heard Naruto call, a barely audible goodbye following suit. He sighed and continued on his way.

"I challenge you to a race in this bouncy structure!" Shikamaru turned, and sure enough, there stood Lee a daring finger pointing at Neji.

"You mean the obstacle course?" Neji calmly replied, glaring at his fellow ninja.

"Yes. And if I do not beat you, I will have to do five-hundred laps on that." Lee stated, pointing at a bunch of carts, under a sign that read "Bumper Cars".

"Alright." Neji sighed as his teammate called go.

"Finally, some peace and quiet." Shikamaru thought happily.

"No! I refuse to set foot into that!" He'd recognize that troublesome voice anywhere.

"What's the problem, Ino." He asked, walking up to his blonde-haired teammate.

She started to gesture to the man wearing the "Staff" t-shirt and ripped blue jeans.

"He expects me to believe that _that _is a restroom." She stated motioning to the big, green, structures that read "Porto-Potty".

"I'm not even going to deal with this." Shikamaru replied, calmly walking away.

"Shikamaru, get back here! No, sir, I will not stop yelling!" Ino's shouts seemed to fade away after a while. Thank goodness.

Shino stood next to the arguing Kiba, his headache steadily growing more powerful. He rubbed his head, it not seeming to go away. They were at the "Ticket Booth" and Kiba was arguing about Akamaru.

"But he goes _everywhere_ with me!" Kiba shouted at the woman behind the counter.

"I'm sorry, no animals allowed." She calmly stated, eyes unwavering at the young Inuzuka's angry expression.

"But-" The bug-user sighed as they continued to argue.

"Kiba." He interrupted. Kiba looked up, obviously pumped from his ongoing battle.

"I'm gonna go on ahead." Kiba nodded, excepting. Shino then started to walk. He walked past many giant metal machines, all whirling and twirling and spinning. Just looking at them made his head throb harder. He angled away from the defiant pieces of machinery, now weaving through tents. He was looking around when he heard an angry yell. He glanced over his shoulder to see Uchiha, Sasuke angry leaning over a wooden ledge. He had two plastic balls in his hand and was facing around twenty bottles stacked on top of each other. He threw- well more like chucked –a ball at the stacked bottles. It simply bounced off, the bottles not even wavering. He let out another angry groan and narrowed his eyes at his target. Next to him, Sakura Haruno sighed.

"Sasuke-kun, you really don't need to win the bear for me. It's not _that_ big."

She stared longingly at the life sized teddy bear, completed with a red bow. The young Uchiha, seeing this, turned back to the bottles, determination clear in his onyx-colored eyes. He was _not_ one to be taken lightly. Shino chuckled and continued to weave his way through the tents- that is until one sign caught his eye.

"Step right up! Worlds largest beetle! Straight from the Amazon Jungle! As big as two people!"

Needless to say, Shino was in heaven.

Sakura giggled as Sasuke handed her the teddy bear. She wavered, not expecting it to be so heavy.

"You want me to carry it?" Sasuke questioned, looking out of the corner of his eye.

"No, its fine." She giggled again, thinking of the young avenger walking through the fairgrounds carrying a giant stuffed animal. What a sight that would be. She looked back over at Sasuke who was staring at what she had learned was called, a "Roller coaster." She swallowed her fears and sighed, grabbing his hand. He looked up quickly, and then noticed she was dragging him to the semi-long line that was leading up to a ride called "The Disaster". The ultimate challenge. Besides, if anyone could keep a blank face fifteen feet off the ground going upside down at two hundred miles an hour, it was Sasuke Uchiha.

Shikamaru sighed, still looking for Choji. It's been several hours and he had been wandering aimlessly looking for his lost comrade. So unbelievably troublesome. He glanced at the bumper cars. He had gone in a complete circle. Still looking at the bumper cars, Shikamaru spotted Rock Lee going around and around the inside of the metal bars, counting to himself.

"Four-hundred, fifty-three. Four-hundred, fifty-four. If I cannot do five-hundred laps that is one-thousand rides on the 'Tilt-A-Whirl'!" He shouted, quite obviously out of breath. Shikamaru sighed and shook his head, now turning to a cry of victory coming from the other side of him. TenTen seemed to be throwing darts at balloons.

"Yes!" She cried, throwing an overly, large stuffed animal into a plastic bag. The bags seemed to be filled with other prizes of that caliber.

"Excuse me," The worker at that game called scratching his head, "We have no more large prizes available."

TenTen sighed.

"Neji!" She called. The young Hyuga walked up and picked up her over-flowing prize bags.

"To the next booth!" She cried, pointing forward, the Hyuga genius following close behind. Shikamaru sighed and continued looking for Choji. He finally came across him sitting at a picnic table surrounded by food.

"Hi Shikamaru." Choji called, burping. "Want some funnel cake?" He smiled sheepishly, waving a powder-coated substance in front of the Nara child's face.

"No." Shikamaru grabbed the funnel cake and tossed it into the nearest trashcan. "Lets go, Choji." Choji sighed, but followed. On their way back they saw a green faced Lee, sitting alone in a spinning cart, and all the balloon games seemed to be out of prizes.

Carnivals are _so_ troublesome.


End file.
